It’s the Hippodrome bill to beat them all...
Giant playbill marks theatre’s 120th anniversary
IT’S the gig to end all gigs – The Beatles, Judy Garland, Laurel & Hardy, Mae West and more ... all coming to a theatre near you.
To Birmingham’s famous to be precise.
The Hurst Street theatre is marking its 120th anniversary with a giant playbill featuring some of the big names to have trodden the boards.
The 30-foot long poster, in the style of the old music hall bills, has been installed in the main foyer.
When The Beatles appeared in 1963, they had to disguise themselves as policemen to escape screaming fans.
Houdini’s Hippodrome escape act, meanwhile, was captured by a Daily Mirror sketch artist in 1904.
But it’s the more obscure acts that intrigue most, recalling the theatre’s variety past, including:
Claire Heliot offered animal education and tricks in a cage of 12 lions and two boarhounds, in a lessenlightened era.
Master phantasist The Great Carmo, all the way from Australia, took a different tack – he made his lion simply vanish into thin air.
Sparks doubtless flew when Dr Walford Brodie, the Modern Anatomical Miracle Worker of Bloodless Electrical Surgery, took to the stage.
And who can have failed to be impressed by Princess Trixie and her equine cash register: queen of all educated horses?
“This commemorative artwork is another way for the Hippodrome to mark our 120th anniversary,” says artistic director and chief executive Fiona Allan. “We hope it prompts visitors to recall some of the great performers they have seen here over the decades.
“It’s completely free to
Hippodrome,
visit and
is
situated in the main Hippodrome foyer, near the coffee bar.”
The playbill was unveiled by city historian Professor Carl Chinn, who added: “The Hippodrome has been at the heart of cultural activity in the city for many decades and is a landmark theatre in Birmingham, and the UK. It was an honour to reveal this stunning artwork.”